Surface-hoe.



No. 877,913. PATENTED FEB. 4, 1908.

J. A. CRUMMER.

SURFACE HOB.

APPLICATION FILED mm: so. 1906.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR.

A ITTOR/VE ys rm: NORRIS PETERS cm, WASHINGTON. n. c.

JOHN A. GRUMMER, OF GRANT TOWNSHIP, POGAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

SURFACE HOE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 4, 1908.

' Application filed June 30.1906- Serial No. 324,240.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. CRUMMER, a citizen of the United States,residing in Grant Township, in the county of, Pocahontas and State ofIowa, have invented a new and useful surface IIoe, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention has relation to surface hoes, and it consists in thenovel construction and arrangement of their parts as hereinafter shownand described.

The object of the invention is to provide a hoe adapted to be used atthe surface of the ground for cutting weeds and other vegetation andwhich is so constructed that it will cut lightly under the surface ofthe soil but does not to any appreciable degree drag or remove the soil;and at the same time the roots of the plant are cut and the plant itselfis left upon the ground to wither and die.

The hoe is not intended to be used for chopping purposes, nor is itintended to be used for dragging or collecting the earth, and it may beso manipulated that it will not bunch or bundle the plants as they arecut, but leaves the same scattered over the surface of the groundexposed to the rays of the sun.

The hoe consists primarily of a blade which is very thin, and is longand narrow in a horizontal plane. Shanks of peculiar configurationconnect the rear corners of said blade with a handle socket. The saidblade is .pitched at an angle of about 45 degrees to the handle.Consequently, the said blade may be moved substantially parallel withthe surface of the earth without requiring bending over or stooping, onthe part of the operator. It is by reason of the peculiar configurationof the shanks and the relative angles of inclination of the partsthereof to each other and to the line of draft of the hoe that theimplement may be used to great advantage without dragging or bunchingthe vegetation as the same is cut.

In the accompanying drawing :Figure 1 is a perspective View of the hoe.Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of thesame. I

The blade 1 is formed of a thin flat strip corners of the blade 1.

of metal having a longitudinal cutting edge 2. A socket 6 overhangs theblade and is designed to receive one end of a handle 7 and this sockethas oppositely extending members 3 at one end thereof, the end portionsof which are bent as shown at 5 to form bows 4 welded or otherwiseconnected to the rear These bows 4 extend laterally beyond the ends ofthe blade so that plants cut by the end portions of the blade will befree to pass between the bows without being retarded thereby or becomingentangled therewith.

In operation, the blade 1 passes over the surface of the soil orslightly under the same When cutting under the soil; by inertia theblade slips under the soil and leaves the same remaining approximatelyat the same location. That is to say, the soil is not dragged orscraped. The roots of the vegetation are severed and the plants passbetween the upper surface of the blade 1 and the peculiar bows 3 andremain substantially at the same location after being cut as that atwhich they were when rooted. In this way, the plants are not bundled orgathered but are left scattered out upon the surface of the groundexposed to the heat of the sun.

Having described my invention, what I I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is A hoe comprising a blade, a handle socket,and arms connected with the two corners of the blade and with thesocket, the arms when the implement is viewed from its ends, beingrearwardly and then forwardly bowed, and when viewed in plan beinglaterally projected on relatively sharp curves beyond the blade ends toprovide an unobstructed passage for earth and the like, and angularlydeflected toward the front edge of the blade to permit the implement towork close to a plant or the like.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN A. CRUMMER.

Witnesses:

J. O. BUSINGTON, CHAS. PATTEE.

